When did I know I had bitten off more than I could chew?  I think it occurred to me about 10 feet into my 25 foot fall…WOOOOOOOOOOO! More »

A couple of weeks ago Luke and I drove into Yosemite with the intention to check out Free Rider — kick its tires, try and get its general idea. Things went better than expected and we ended up climbing up 1/2 of El Cap free in a day. So we figured, “Eh, doing the whole thing can’t be that hard.” When I said that to my friend Traian, he laughed and answered “Yeah right, you guys climbed ‘Easy Rider’. Wait till you get higher.” He was spot on. More »

The trickling sensation of fear and anticipation moved slowly through my body in the days leading up to the climb. Every thing I had done to this point would not compare in shear scale, where we were headed was in my mind the “Mount Everest of rock walls”. Driving into the Yosemite valley I thought back again to the days of my youth, where a wide eyed 12 year old sat in the back of his parents car staring up at the towering El Capitan in amazement… at that point I would have never believed I would one day scale that very wall. More »

I don’t usually post trip reports, not because that I rarely take trips, but mostly because I’m a sport climber with the literary skill of a fifth grader. But once a while, I get on something so big and exciting that I feel compelled to write about, only to get swamped with work and actual climbing. Let’s see how this one goes… More »

Shay and I decided that our main objective during our weeklong stay in Yosemite last summer would be the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. Since Shay had zero aid experience, I showed him how to aid and jumar on Lie Detector at Woodson… A couple laps up and down and I pronounced him ready for a bigwall. More »

Nath and I headed to Yosemite Valley in October with the intent to climb Galactic Hitchhiker. It’s shaded, you don’t need much water since it’s cool, and the route is supposed to be dry by then. However, More »

Gas fill-up: $30.00
Morning coffee: $1.00
Restroom pitstop: $.25
Shoving your fingers in a perfect crack: Priceless. More »

I have this friend, Scotty. He likes to push the limits. In fact he’s famous for it among our group of friends. We’ve all been on a “Scotty Vacation™.” They typically involve at least one (or more) of the following: unplanned bivy, dehydration, hallucination, cramps, stumbling from exhaustion, feeling like you might throw up, altitude sickness, and more. They ALL have four things in common: More »